Notre Dame Des Eaux

Scary Books: Black Spirits And White

West of St. Pol de Leon, on the sea-cliffs of Finisterre, stands the

ancient church of Notre Dame des Eaux. Five centuries of beating winds

and sweeping rains have moulded its angles, and worn its carvings and

sculpture down to the very semblance of the ragged cliffs themselves,

until even the Breton fisherman, looking lovingly from his boat as he

makes for the harbor of Morlaix, hardly can say where the crags end, and

where the church begins. The teeth of the winds of the sea have

devoured, bit by bit, the fine sculpture of the doorway and the thin

cusps of the window tracery; gray moss creeps caressingly over the worn

walls in ineffectual protection; gentle vines, turned crabbed by the

harsh beating of the fierce winds, clutch the crumbling buttresses,

climb up over the sinking roof, reach in even at the louvres of the

belfry, holding the little sanctuary safe in desperate arms against the

savage warfare of the sea and sky.



Many a time you may follow the rocky highway from St. Pol even around

the last land of France, and so to Brest, yet never see sign of Notre

Dame des Eaux; for it clings to a cliff somewhat lower than the road,

and between grows a stunted thicket of harsh and ragged trees, their

skeleton white branches, tortured and contorted, thrusting sorrowfully

out of the hard, dark foliage that still grows below, where the rise of

land below the highway gives some protection. You must leave the wood by

the two cottages of yellow stone, about twenty miles beyond St. Pol, and

go down to the right, around the old stone quarry; then, bearing to the

left by the little cliff path, you will, in a moment, see the pointed

roof of the tower of Notre Dame, and, later, come down to the side porch

among the crosses of the arid little graveyard.



It is worth the walk, for though the church has outwardly little but its

sad picturesqueness to repay the artist, within it is a dream and a

delight. A Norman nave of round, red stone piers and arches, a delicate

choir of the richest flamboyant, a High Altar of the time of Francis I.,

form only the mellow background and frame for carven tombs and dark old

pictures, hanging lamps of iron and brass, and black, heavily carved

choir-stalls of the Renaissance.



So has the little church lain unnoticed for many centuries; for the

horrors and follies of the Revolution have never come near, and the

hardy and faithful people of Finisterre have feared God and loved Our

Lady too well to harm her church. For many years it was the church of

the Comtes de Jarleuc; and these are their tombs that mellow year by

year under the warm light of the painted windows, given long ago by

Comte Robert de Jarleuc, when the heir of Poullaouen came safely to

shore in the harbor of Morlaix, having escaped from the Isle of Wight,

where he had lain captive after the awful defeat of the fleet of Charles

of Valois at Sluys. And now the heir of Poullaouen lies in a carven

tomb, forgetful of the world where he fought so nobly: the dynasty he

fought to establish, only a memory; the family he made glorious, a name;

the Chateau Poullaouen a single crag of riven masonry in the fields of

M. du Bois, mayor of Morlaix.



It was Julien, Comte de Bergerac, who rediscovered Notre Dame des Eaux,

and by his picture of its dreamy interior in the Salon of '86 brought

once more into notice this forgotten corner of the world. The next year

a party of painters settled themselves near by, roughing it as best they

could, and in the year following, Mme. de Bergerac and her daughter

Heloise came with Julien, and, buying the old farm of Pontivy, on the

highway over Notre Dame, turned it into a summer house that almost made

amends for their lost chateau on the Dordogne, stolen from them as

virulent Royalists by the triumphant Republic in 1794.



Little by little a summer colony of painters gathered around Pontivy,

and it was not until the spring of 1890 that the peace of the colony was

broken. It was a sorrowful tragedy. Jean d'Yriex, the youngest and

merriest devil of all the jolly crew, became suddenly moody and morose.

At first this was attributed to his undisguised admiration for Mlle.

Heloise, and was looked on as one of the vagaries of boyish passion; but

one day, while riding with M. de Bergerac, he suddenly seized the

bridle of Julien's horse, wrenched it from his hand, and, turning his

own horse's head towards the cliffs, lashed the terrified animals into a

gallop straight towards the brink. He was only thwarted in his mad

object by Julien, who with a quick blow sent him headlong in the dry

grass, and reined in the terrified animals hardly a yard from the

cliffs. When this happened, and no word of explanation was granted, only

a sullen silence that lasted for days, it became clear that poor Jean's

brain was wrong in some way. Heloise devoted herself to him with

infinite patience,--though she felt no special affection for him, only

pity,--and while he was with her he seemed sane and quiet. But at night

some strange mania took possession of him. If he had worked on his Prix

de Rome picture in the daytime, while Heloise sat by him, reading aloud

or singing a little, no matter how good the work, it would have vanished

in the morning, and he would again begin, only to erase his labor during

the night.



At last his growing insanity reached its climax; and one day in Notre

Dame, when he had painted better than usual, he suddenly stopped,

seized a palette knife, and slashed the great canvas in strips. Heloise

sprang forward to stop him, and in crazy fury he turned on her, striking

at her throat with the palette knife. The thin steel snapped, and the

white throat showed only a scarlet scratch. Heloise, without that

ordinary terror that would crush most women, grasped the thin wrists of

the madman, and, though he could easily have wrenched his hands away,

d'Yriex sank on his knees in a passion of tears. He shut himself in his

room at Pontivy, refusing to see any one, walking for hours up and down,

fighting against growing madness. Soon Dr. Charpentier came from Paris,

summoned by Mme. de Bergerac; and after one short, forced interview,

left at once for Paris, taking M. d'Yriex with him.



A few days later came a letter for Mme. de Bergerac, in which Dr.

Charpentier confessed that Jean had disappeared, that he had allowed him

too much liberty, owing to his apparent calmness, and that when the

train stopped at Le Mans he had slipped from him and utterly vanished.



During the summer, word came occasionally that no trace had been found

of the unhappy man, and at last the Pontivy colony realized that the

merry boy was dead. Had he lived he must have been found, for the

exertions of the police were perfect; yet not the slightest trace was

discovered, and his lamentable death was acknowledged, not only by Mme.

de Bergerac and Jean's family,--sorrowing for the death of their

first-born, away in the warm hills of Lozere,--but by Dr. Charpentier as

well.



So the summer passed, and the autumn came, and at last the cold rains of

November--the skirmish line of the advancing army of winter--drove the

colony back to Paris.



It was the last day at Pontivy, and Mlle. Heloise had come down to Notre

Dame for a last look at the beautiful shrine, a last prayer for the

repose of the tortured soul of poor Jean d'Yriex. The rains had ceased

for a time, and a warm stillness lay over the cliffs and on the creeping

sea, swaying and lapping around the ragged shore. Heloise knelt very

long before the Altar of Our Lady of the Waters; and when she finally

rose, could not bring herself to leave as yet that place of sorrowful

beauty, all warm and golden with the last light of the declining sun.

She watched the old verger, Pierre Polou, stumping softly around the

darkening building, and spoke to him once, asking the hour; but he was

very deaf, as well as nearly blind, and he did not answer.



So she sat in the corner of the aisle by the Altar of Our Lady of the

Waters, watching the checkered light fade in the advancing shadows,

dreaming sad day-dreams of the dead summer, until the day-dreams merged

in night-dreams, and she fell asleep.



Then the last light of the early sunset died in the gleaming quarries of

the west window; Pierre Polou stumbled uncertainly through the dusky

shadow, locked the sagging doors of the mouldering south porch, and took

his way among the leaning crosses up to the highway and his little

cottage, a good mile away,--the nearest house to the lonely Church of

Notre Dame des Eaux.



With the setting of the sun great clouds rose swiftly from the sea; the

wind freshened, and the gaunt branches of the weather-worn trees in the

churchyard lashed themselves beseechingly before the coming storm. The

tide turned, and the waters at the foot of the rocks swept uneasily up

the narrow beach and caught at the weary cliffs, their sobbing growing

and deepening to a threatening, solemn roar. Whirls of dead leaves rose

in the churchyard, and threw themselves against the blank windows. The

winter and the night came down together.



Heloise awoke, bewildered and wondering; in a moment she realized the

situation, and without fear or uneasiness. There was nothing to dread in

Notre Dame by night; the ghosts, if there were ghosts, would not trouble

her, and the doors were securely locked. It was foolish of her to fall

asleep, and her mother would be most uneasy at Pontivy if she realized

before dawn that Heloise had not returned. On the other hand, she was in

the habit of wandering off to walk after dinner, often not coming home

until late, so it was quite possible that she might return before Madame

knew of her absence, for Polou came always to unlock the church for the

low mass at six o'clock; so she arose from her cramped position in the

aisle, and walked slowly up to the choir-rail, entered the chancel, and

felt her way to one of the stalls, on the south side, where there were

cushions and an easy back.



It was really very beautiful in Notre Dame by night; she had never

suspected how strange and solemn the little church could be when the

moon shone fitfully through the south windows, now bright and clear, now

blotted out by sweeping clouds. The nave was barred with the long

shadows of the heavy pillars, and when the moon came out she could see

far down almost to the west end. How still it was! Only a soft low

murmur without of the restless limbs of the trees, and of the creeping

sea.



It was very soothing, almost like a song; and Heloise felt sleep coming

back to her as the clouds shut out the moon, and all the church grew

black.



She was drifting off into the last delicious moment of vanishing

consciousness, when she suddenly came fully awake, with a shock that

made every nerve tingle. In the midst of the far faint sounds of the

tempestuous night she had heard a footstep! Yet the church was utterly

empty, she was sure. And again! A footstep dragging and uncertain,

stealthy and cautious, but an unmistakable step, away in the blackest

shadow at the end of the church.



She sat up, frozen with the fear that comes at night and that is

overwhelming, her hands clutching the coarse carving of the arms of the

stall, staring down into the dark.



Again the footstep, and again,--slow, measured, one after another at

intervals of perhaps half a minute, growing a little louder each time, a

little nearer.



Would the darkness never be broken? Would the cloud never pass? Minute

after minute went like weary hours, and still the moon was hid, still

the dead branches rattled clatteringly on the high windows.

Unconsciously she moved, as under a magician's spell, down to the

choir-rail, straining her eyes to pierce the thick night. And the step,

it was very near! Ah, the moon at last! A white ray fell through the

westernmost window, painting a bar of light on the floor of sagging

stone. Then a second bar, then a third, and a fourth, and for a moment

Heloise could have cried out with relief, for nothing broke the lines of

light,--no figure, no shadow. In another moment came a step, and from

the shadow of the last column appeared in the pallid moonlight the

figure of a man. The girl stared breathless, the moonlight falling on

her as she stood rigid against the low parapet. Another step and

another, and she saw before her--was it ghost or living man?--a white

mad face staring from matted hair and beard, a tall thin figure half

clothed in rags, limping as it stepped towards her with wounded feet.

From the dead face stared mad eyes that gleamed like the eyes of a cat,

fixed on hers with insane persistence, holding her, fascinating her as a

cat fascinates a bird.



One more step,--it was close before her now! those awful, luminous eyes

dilating and contracting in awful palpitations. And the moon was going

out; the shadows swept one by one over the windows; she stared at the

moonlit face for a last fascinated glance--Mother of God! it was---- The

shadow swept over them, and now only remained the blazing eyes and the

dim outline of a form that crouched waveringly before her as a cat

crouches, drawing its vibrating body together for the spring that blots

out the life of the victim.



In another instant the mad thing would leap; but just as the quiver

swept over the crouching body, Heloise gathered all her strength into

one action of desperate terror.



"Jean, stop!"



The thing crouched before her paused, chattering softly to itself; then

it articulated dryly, and with all the trouble of a learning child, the

one word, "Chantez!"



Without a thought, Heloise sang; it was the first thing that she

remembered, an old Provencal song that d'Yriex had always loved. While

she sang, the poor mad creature lay huddled at her feet, separated from

her only by the choir parapet, its dilating, contracting eyes never

moving for an instant. As the song died away, came again that awful

tremor, indicative of the coming death-spring, and again she sang,--this

time the old Pange lingua, its sonorous Latin sounding in the deserted

church like the voice of dead centuries.



And so she sang, on and on, hour after hour,--hymns and chansons,

folk-songs and bits from comic operas, songs of the boulevards

alternating with the Tantum ergo and the O Filii et Filiae. It

mattered little what she sang. At last it seemed to her that it mattered

little whether she sang or no; for her brain whirled round and round

like a dizzy maelstrom, her icy hands, griping the hard rail, alone

supported her dying body. She could hear no sound of her song; her body

was numb, her mouth parched, her lips cracked and bleeding; she felt

the drops of blood fall from her chin. And still she sang, with the

yellow palpitating eyes holding her as in a vice. If only she could

continue until dawn! It must be dawn so soon! The windows were growing

gray, the rain lashed outside, she could distinguish the features of the

horror before her; but the night of death was growing with the coming

day, blackness swept down upon her; she could sing no more, her tortured

lips made one last effort to form the words, "Mother of God, save me!"

and night and death came down like a crushing wave.



But her prayer was heard; the dawn had come, and Polou unlocked the

porch-door for Father Augustin just in time to hear the last agonized

cry. The maniac turned in the very act of leaping on his victim, and

sprang for the two men, who stopped in dumb amazement. Poor old Pierre

Polou went down at a blow; but Father Augustin was young and fearless,

and he grappled the mad animal with all his strength and will. It would

have gone ill even with him,--for no one can stand against the bestial

fury of a man in whom reason is dead,--had not some sudden impulse

seized the maniac, who pitched the priest aside with a single movement,

and, leaping through the door, vanished forever.



Did he hurl himself from the cliffs in the cold wet morning, or was he

doomed to wander, a wild beast, until, captured, he beat himself in vain

against the walls of some asylum, an unknown pauper lunatic? None ever

knew.



The colony at Pontivy was blotted out by the dreary tragedy, and Notre

Dame des Eaux sank once more into silence and solitude. Once a year

Father Augustin said mass for the repose of the soul of Jean d'Yriex;

but no other memory remained of the horror that blighted the lives of an

innocent girl and of a gray-haired mother mourning for her dead boy in

far Lozere.